Process of making butter.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE V. FRYE AND FRANK B. HINKSON, OF LEXINGTON, OHIO, SAID HINKSON ASSIGNOR TO SAID FRYE.

PROCESS OF MAKING BUTTER.

Patented May 19, 1908.

Serial No. 399,274.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that We, GEORGE V. FRYE and FRANK B. HINKSON, citizens of the United States, residing at Lexington, in the county of Richland and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Processes of MakingButter, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to an im roved rocess of treating milk in butter ma in w mmby to materially improve the qua ity and quantity ofthe product.

In the ordinary methods of butter making the milk is separated, the resultant cream ripened bythe use of butter culture, and the material so produced is churned to collect the fat globules. The ripening, or practical souring of the cream is absolutely essential in all commercially effective butter making rocesses now known, and as the quality and Savor of the product depends lar ely upon churning the cream at exactly the proper point in the ripening process, the best results require extreme care and expert knowledge. a

he present process is .directed primarily to dispensing entirely with the ripening of.

'the cream, and broadly stated, consists in subjecting sweet cream to the action of the electric current immediately preceding the churning o eration. In thus subjecting the cream to t e action of the electric current it has been found that more or less heatis imparted to the material, and that by virtue of such heat the roper separation of the butter fats held in so ution is to some degree'retard ed. Therefore, particularly in view of the fact that unripened cream is utilized as the material, an important and essential step of the present process is the initial reduction of the temperature of the cream to such a degree that the subsequent electrolytic action will not raise the temperature of the material to a point beyond that best ada ted for the pro or gathering or separation o the butter.

t eld in solution.

In carrying out the process, the cream, which has been initially treated to reduce the temperature, is subjected to an electrolytic action, the current strength and duration -of which depends upon the percentageof butter fat in the material being treated. After the electrolytic action is maintained for the desired length of time, the material is delivered directly to the churn in which the fat globules are massed in the usual manner.

As one simple form of carrying out the process, it may be stated that the sweet cream of the desired temperature is delivered to a tank in which are removably mounted a series of electrodes, preferably so constructed as to permit the flow of the material below them. These electrodes may be in any number and any desired distance a art, both of which details depend. primari y upon the specific nature of the particular material being treated. We have found by experi ment that the process is e ually effective under ordinary conditions y connecting the electrodes in series, in parallel, or in bi-polar arrangement, the essential and necessary characteristic being that the entire quantity :of the material be thoroughly subjected to electrolytic action.

The effect of the current on the milk is primarily to se arate and mass in globule form the butter fats held in solution, therefore, adding these heretofore lost solids to the butter fats held in suspension. particularly noticeable in carr ing out the process that the butter fats wi be found to collect on the positive electrodes, massing themselves in butter form, and in fact exactly-and direct] making butter in the electrolytic receptac e. Therefore, the process of butter makin as theoretically considered, is complete by t e electrolytic action, thou h we prefer to additionally churn the material in order to permit a proper working and fin therefore, to be understood that we consider as Within the scope of our invention the use of any known method of or apparatus for inducing the necessary electrolytic action, and that we limit ourselves in the present process only to the use of the electric current for treatin cpoled and unripened material as a preinci ent to the churning operation in the process of butter makin Havin thus described the invention what is claime as new, is:

1. The herein described process of butter This is so making consisting in reducing the tempera.- ture of the material, subjecting the same to an electrolytic action, and finally churning the material, j

2. The herein described process of butter making consisting in cooling unripened creem, subjecting the same to an electrolytic action, and churning the same.

v 3. The herein described process of making butter. consisting in subjecting cream to a cooling operation and thenelectrolyzing the product.

asept c 4. The herein described process of makin butter consisting in subjecting unripene cream to a cooling operatlon and then elec 15 trolyzing the product.

' In testimony whereof We affix our signetures in presence of two Witnesses.

GEO. V. FRYE. FRANK B. HiN-KSON.

Witnesses:

J. W. GERNER, E. E. WAEFIELD. 

